Current through Register Vol. 63, No. 9, September 1, 2024
For purposes of ORS
285C.160 and a qualified
business firm subject to a written agreement described in OAR
123-674-0700:
(1) In order for the firm to receive the
additional one or two years of exemption on qualified property inside any
enterprise zone not excluded by OAR
123-674-0500(5):
(a) Wages received on average must equal or
exceed the Current County Wage, but only:
(A)
During the additional one or two years; and
(B) If the agreement was executed on or after
October 6, 2017; and
(b)
During each year throughout the exemption's first three years and the
additional one or two years, average compensation must equal or exceed:
(A) 150 percent of the Established County
Wage; or
(B) 130 percent of the
Established County Wage, if:
(i) The agreement
is executed on or after October 6, 2017; and
(ii) When it is executed, any part of the
zone is inside a qualified rural county under ORS
285C.050(17).
(2) The
compensation requirement in subsection (1)(b) of this rule applies only to 'new
employees hired by the firm' as defined under ORS
285C.050(13).
That definition is also used here for the requirement of wages received in
subsection (1)(a) of this rule, for the sake of convenience, such that both
requirements are satisfied by averaging only across "affected employees," which
encompass jobs, positions or persons:
(a)
Included as part of 'employment of the firm' according to OAR
123-065-0200;
(b) Created, filled
and hired for the first time:
(A) After the
date of Application under ORS
285C.140(1),
even if an individual filling the job is already employed by the eligible
business firm in another position that is refilled within the zone;
and
(B) On or before December 31 at
the end of the initial, first exemption year; and
(c) For which calculation of their average
annual compensation or wages received may include the regular yearly
compensation or wages (excluding bonuses or the like) of an applicable position
that is temporarily vacant due to unforeseen circumstances for not more than 90
days at any time during the year.
(3) As used in this rule:
(a) "Compensation" includes total
calendar-year remuneration (whether taxable or not) for all affected employees
in the form of wages, salary, overtime pay, shift differential, profit-sharing,
bonuses, commissions, paid vacation, and associated fringe or financial
benefits such as life insurance, medical coverage and retirement plans, but
excluding:
(A) Free meals, club membership or
comparable workplace amenities;
(B)
Payroll-based tax or cost mandated by federal, state or local law, such as
worker's compensation, unemployment insurance or the employer's share under
FICA; and
(C) Gratuities or tips,
other than what is anyways part of wages received for purposes of employee
withholding.
(b) "Wages
received" are total taxable income paid to all affected employees and used in
calculating amounts withheld or otherwise applicable under ORS chapter 316 for
purposes of Oregon personal income taxes of any such person during the calendar
year.
(4) As used in ORS
285C.050(17)
and in identifying qualified rural counties:
(a) "County ... outside all metropolitan
statistical areas" means an Oregon county other than Benton, Clackamas,
Columbia, Deschutes, Jackson, Josephine, Lane, Linn, Marion, Multnomah, Polk,
Washington or Yamhill County, or any combination of those counties.
(b) "[T]otal property taxes imposed by all
taxing districts within the county are equal to or greater than 1.3 percent of
the total assessed value of all taxable property located in the county" is true
if the quotient of the respective amounts from the Department of Revenue's most
recently published Oregon Property Tax Statistics
(150-303-405) is equal to or greater than 0.013 rounded to the nearest
one-thousandth. Those amounts shall be updated as feasible and necessary using
more current tax year documentation of the county (excluding urban renewal from
the tax figure).
Statutory/Other Authority: ORS
285A.075 &
285C.060(1)
Statutes/Other Implemented: ORS
285C.160,
285C.165 &
285C.240
